Improvement in the manufacture of iron and steel



, H. BESSEMBR. MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND S TEE L. Patented July 25, 1865.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY BESSEMER, OF LoNDoN, ENGLAND.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,053, dated July 25, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BEs'sE-nnn, of Queen Street Place, New Cannon Street, in the city of London, in the kingdon of Great Britain, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention consists in manufacturing sheets, plates, bars, and other forms direct from fluid malleable iron or steel in place of allowing the same first to cool and set in molds. For this purpose itis preferred to fix a pair of rolls, with their axes in a horizontal position, in a suitable frame, the rolls being placed side by side on the same level. One of the rolls may, however, if desired,beplaced at a higher level than the other, so that the lower one may receive the molten metal upon its upper surface. It is preferred that thedia-meter of the rolls should be large, and that they should have flanged ends so made as to form stops, and thus to determine the breadth of the sheet or pfate or bar or other form produced thereby; or the rollers used may be provided with several grooves of the desired form. The relative positionof the rolls is regulated by any convenient means, and-they are kept cool by water. The rolls being suitably arranged the fluid malleable iron or steel ispoured or allowed to flow from a ladle or crucible, or from a converting vessel or furnace in which such metal has been caused to pass from the crude to therefined ormalleable state, into the space between the rollers, which are constantly moved slowly during the flow of the metal between them. The cool surfaces of the rolls will be found rapidly to solidify the fluid metal, and the same will be powerfully pressed and solidified by the pressure of the rolls, and will,

be of a sectional form, depending on the form of the space between the rolls. The forms of iron orsteel thus produced may,if necessary, be passed at once through between other rolls, in orderfurther to perfect the manufacture, or the same may be reheated, either in the forms produced or when cut up and piled.

To enable others skilled in the art. to more fully understand and construct and use my invention, I have here annexed a sheet of drawings on which the same is represented, and a more complete description of the process.

Figure 1 of the annexed sheet of drawings is a vertical section, where a arepresent the rolls and a* openings in the center of them for the purpose of allowing a stream of water to pass through for the purpose of absorbing a portion of the heat communicated to them by the molten metal.

In addition to this method of cooling the rolls I also provide a means of lowering the temperature of them by the application of wavter to their external surfaces, for which purto the rolls numerous perforations are made,

through which jets of water will escape and be projected against the rolls as they revolve, the water afterward falling onto the inclined surfaces c* of theinclosed boxes or chambers 00,

whereby the water, after acting on the rolls, will be made to flow into the waste-pipesd d and escape.

On the upper side of the chamber 0 c grooves or channels e e. are formed, into which blocks of woodfare fitted, one side of them being curved to fit against the rolls. The side so fitted is to be covered with felt or other suitable material for the purpose of removing any drops of water which may adhere to the surface of the rolls.

At the back of the blocks f there aresprings g for the purpose of pressing the blocks tightly against the rolls; but inlieu of this mode ofremoving the water from the surface of the rolls a plate orbrush may be employed, if preferred.

In order to prevent the fluid metal from soldering to or uniting itself to the rolls it will be found advantageous to allow the surface'of them to become rusty. They may also bebla ckleaded or greased from time to time, either by hand or by allowing them to revolve against or in contact with the black lead, grease, or other material, in any convenient way and in order to remove the plate or bar of rolled metal from the rolls, in case of anyadhesion thereto, I use two steel bars or sc'rapers,W W,

whlch extend the entire length of the rolls and have their ends let into suitable slots formed in the sideframes of the roller-mill, and are to be kept in contact with them by adjusting-screws or wedges acting in these slots, or by other convenient means, the object being to keep the scrapers in contact with the rolls and thereby prevent the plate or bar of rolled metal from being carried round with. the rolls. When grooved rolls are used the bars \V are to be notched so as to fit the grooves.

The distance apart of the rolls may be regulated by set-screws acting on the hearings in which the rolls revolve, as generally practiced. in rolling-mills.

'It is desirable that the rolls should be in close contact before commencing to pour the fluid metal between them, in order that it may inot fall through. I therefore prefer to use a weighted lever or other suitable eontrivance to cause the rolls to come in contact at all times when thereisnothing between them to prevent it, but which weighted lever will be allowed to rise whenever the solidified metal accumulates between the rollers, which will thereby be forced asunder until their bearings find a fir in support against the end of the set-screws, the"v position of which will determine the thickness. of the sheet or bar formed between the rolls.

- The mode of regulating the thickness of the plates or bars of metal by the use of set-screws and the useof weighted levers to force them in contact, as well as the gearing by which the rolls are driven, as above explained, will be readily understood by the manufacturers of plate and bar iron, though they are omittedin the drawings in order that other parts may be more clearly shown, and although I-have shown and described the rolls as being placed in the' frame It at the same horizontal level it will be' understood that one of the rolls may, however,

if desired,'-be placedat ahigher level than the other, so that the lower one may receive the molten metal uponits upper surface. It is preferred that the diameter of the rolls should be large, and that they should have flanged ends,

somade as to form stops, and thusto determine the breadth of the sheet, or plate, or bar, or-

other form produced thereby.

As the metal is to be used in a molten state it becomes necessary to prevent it from flowing away at each end of the rolls. For this purpose I form at each cndof one of the rolls a large flange, and the other roll forming the pair is made without any flanges, and of such a length as to fit in between the flanges of the roll, as before described. One of the flanges used to form a stop is shown at a, Fig. 1, but may be better understood by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings, which represents a pair of rolls in the relative position they would occupy when in use.

Mare the flanges, and j the body, of the roll; I: k the axis or bearings. (Shown broken off.) n is the plain roll fitting in between the flanges i i, and 121 shows the space between them,'which detcrmines the thickness and breadth of the sheet or plate of metal formed between them, the end flanges serving to close the ends and form a sort of trough between the rolls for the reception of the fluid metal.

It will be obvious tliatin lieu of having both flanges on one roll one flange may be formed ,on opposite ends of each roll, and so, al-so,'in-

stead of using any flanges at all,'a stopmay be formed, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, Fig. 3 being' a plan, and Fig. 4 a cross-section, of a pair of rolls without flanges.

p p are grooves formed in the body of the roll q, and r 1 are segmental plates fitting into the grooves 19', and thereby forming a stop and rctainin g the molten metal in the trough or cavity formed between the rolls; or the rollers used may be provided with several grooves of the desired form.

The relative position of the rolls is regulated by any convenient means, and they are kept cool by water, as before described.

- For the purpose of making bars of iron or steel the surface of the rolls should have grooves formed around them, in addition to the flanges or stops, as represented in Fig. 5, which shows a pair of bar-rolls in plan, the spaces 8 s representing the sectional area of the bars that would be formed by them; and so in like manner round, triangular, or other sectional forms may be made by giving a corresponding form to the grooves formed upon the rollers,

and which may be used either for producing plain parallel prisms, plates, or rods, for producing raised or depressed parts thereon of any required-shape or configuration, by forming a counterpart of such forms or configurations on one or both of the rolls, as may be required. And here 1 would observe that by making raised ribs on the rolls parallel to the axis of them, the plates or other forms may be cut oil?" or so indented as to be easily broken into such lengths or sized pieces as may bereouired for various purposes, such as the division ofsteel into small strips for the convenience of remelting in lieu of pouring the fluid steel into water and forming it into shot, as heretofore practiced by me in the manufacture of cast-steel ingots, or the division of iron in convenient pieces for conversiouor other purposes. The rolls being suitably arranged the fluid malleable iron or steel is-poured or allowed to flow from a ladle or crucible, or from a converting vessel or furnace in which vsuch metal has been caused to pass from the crude to the refined or malleable state, into the space between the rollers, which are constantly moved slowly during the How of the metal between them. The cool surfacesof the rolls will be found'rapidly to solidify the fluid metal, and the same will be powerfully pressed and solidi fied by the pressure of the rolls, and will be of a sectional form depending on the form of the space between the rolls. The forms of ilull or steel th us produced may, if necessary, be passed at once through between other rolls i '1 order furthe roller-mill in motion previous to pouring the metal between the rolls, and also to allow the rolls to make one or more revolutions before bringing the water in contact with their surfaces, so that they may be sufiiciently heated to dry ofi the moisture left on them after passing the blocks If a wide sheet of metal is to be rolled, I prefer to use a wide-lipped pouring-vessel, or one that has several openings at intervals on the same level, so as to get the metal as uniformly distributed as may be along the length of the rolls. 1 also prefer to have an accumulation of metal between the rolls, so that the stream of molten metal may fall into a trough of fluid metal instead of pitching onto the rolls, the speed of which should be under the control of the workman in charge of them, so that he may apportion the speed of the rolls to the thickness of the plates or bars he is making.

The solidification of a suflicient bod y of metal to form a thick plate requiring more time than for a thin one will render it necessary to move the mill more slowly for thick plates and more rapidly for thin ones, a proper knowledge of which will be easily acquired in practice.

The continuous sheetsor bars thusformed may be used in the statein which they are thus made, or they may be reroIled at the same heat in a mill placed near the apparatus; or the bars or plates may, if desired, be cut up and piled, or otherwise treated, according to the purpose for which they may be required.

.Having described the nature of my invention, and in what manner the same may be carried into effect, i desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described, provided the. peculiar character of my said invention be retained.

What I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. Rolling sheets, plates, bars, and other forms from fluid malleable iron or steel by ruuuing or pouring said fluid metal between the rolls, substantially as described.

2. The blocks f and springs g, forthe purpose of removing water from the surface of the rolls.

3. The scrapers W, for the purpose of removing the plate or bar of rolled metal from the rolls in case of adhesion thereto.

4. Holding the rolls in close contact with each other previous to pouring in the molten metal, substantially as and for the purposes described.

5. Rolling fluid metal bymeans of rolls cooled by passing water through suitable passages formed in the said rolls, substantially as described.

. HENRY BESSEMERL Witnesses:

A. L. HoLLEY,-. DAVD. LoNGsDoN. 

